Cannock journalist Hannah Hiles, who has worked for the Sunday Mercury, was also alerted by the thunderous noise.

“It was ever so loud and it went on for quite a while,” she said. “It was much more prolonged than a military jet. It was very curious.”

Another resident described the sound of jets followed by a loud whirr, akin to propellers.

The reports – and Lee is still collating them – have spawned three theories:

* Members of the public did see something from another planet, or

* They witnessed a plane in distress, or

* They saw an experimental military craft – a so-called “black project” – being tested over Staffordshire.

Lee added: “I’ve checked online with flight tracking services, and have concluded it would be impossible for this to have been a plane in trouble. There simply weren’t any flights in the area at that specific time.

“I also contacted Birmingham Airport to make sure, and they confirmed none of the flights leaving or arriving at the airport experienced issues that would have led them to fly so low.”

A spokeswoman said: “I’m sure it is something that can be explained. Whether it will be explained is another matter.

“There are so many drones around.”

She stressed that tests of secret military machines are fact, not fiction.

“Development of new black projects – military hardware and vehicles – can take between 20 and 30 years. We are not going to know about the development and tests that go on. There are so many reasons why people see things in the sky.”